Inset Days / Twilight Events
Inset Days for teachers can offer extended training opportunities and empower teachers to deliver sessions on looking at and interpreting portraiture.
When putting on Inset Days differentiate between Primary and Secondary school teachers. At Secondary level arrange days for either History or Art and Design. If you are working with a small number of local schools it may be possible to find out when their Inset Days are and arrange a planned training day accordingly.
Primary
Inset Days around portraiture for Primary School teachers could include historical periods, for example a Tudor Inset Day, that looks at portraiture from the time, historical figures, social and cultural events and related craft making activities. The focus could look at an artistic practice in depth, for example Screen-Printing, and its relation to portraiture.
Secondary
An Inset Day could look at how portraits can be used to direct a theme based area of study at KS3 or the use of portraits as historical evidence in Key Stage 5 History. In-depth hands on practical visual art activities, for example in digital photography and portraiture, would be suitable for Art and Design teachers.
Twilight Inset sessions between about 16.00 to 19.00 are often preferable for teachers than an entire Inset Day. These training sessions can be useful for taster sessions of schools’ programmes that are on offer.